Astute
by Sarcasministic
Summary: Knives and swords and blood and homes... sticks and stones really do break his bones. [WARNING: M FOR DARK CONTENT; READ AT YOUR OWN RISK]


ASTUTE

" _North, you need to put a childproof lock on that door."_

 _"We aren't children!"_

 _"What if Jack gets in there?"_

 _"He'd be fine!"_

It was a mistake and North knew it was his fault.

Pitch didn't have the energy anymore. He didn't have the energy to make nightmares and scythes and knives and—and he doesn't need the energy.

 _"Jack! Jackie, answer me! Jack!"_

 _"Mate!"_

How had they even gotten in a locked room together?

 _"North, I can't break down the door!"_

 _"Well, I enforced it so—"_

 _"North!"  
_

How had they gotten in the _one_ room with the _one_ door at the same time?

 _"C'mon, door! Open! Break…."_

Bunny would stare at the door, now, when it was quiet and _never_ when it was loud and would breathe like Jack that day.

 _"Oh, my, no… Jack…."_

 _"Bunny, what's wrong?"_

He wouldn't at all.

 _"You don't hear it North?"_

 _Bunny ran at the door with renewed vigor._

He would stare at the stains and cease his breaths.

 _"No… Bunny, I can't get the door… what do you…."_

 _"Pitch!"_

He would walk inside and try to ignore the shattered glass and….

 _"Bunny?"_

 _The door was soundproof._

He would sit and watch as his hands bled.

 _"Pitch! Open this door! Stop, Pitch,_ stop it _!"_

 _These were pleads._

…and screams.

 _"Bunny? What's—"_

 _"Pitch!" his voice cracked and he fell to the floor, banging his head slightly. "Pitch, stop! No, please… please…."_

He was crying as they continued.

 _Pitch continued. He didn't know what'd gotten in to him._

 _Pitch kept raising it._

 _His arm._

The snow was red for fifteen minutes that day.

 _North's sword._

 _He brought it down again._

 _Another scream._

The clouds had been black.

 _Another plead from the door._

 _Another question._

 _Another scream._

The children were haunted.

 _Raise._

 _Lower._

 _Scream._

The wind screeched as her son died and died and died and died and died and died and—

 _"Bunny, Bunny!"_

 _"He won't stop they won't stop please… please… it's too loud, North, it's too loud… STOP IT. STOP IT STOP IT—"_

 _"Aster, what is it? What do you hear, why are you!"_

 _"He won't stop! He won't stop!"_

Tooth watched as Baby Tooth cried.

 _"North? What's happening? The door—"_

 _"Pitch! He dragged Jack in there and now Bunny is like this!"_

 _Toothania paused._

 _Her nails scratched the door as she shouted._

She listened to her little sniffles as she tried to rid the image from her mind.

 _"Kozmotis Pitchiner, please! We'll do anything just please… please stop this... let Jack go!"_

 _Silence reigned supreme._

 _"I'm afraid there is no Jack to let go, Toothania."_

 _She stilled and listened to Bunny._

Her hands hurt.

 _"Stop screaming stop screaming stop screaming stop…."_

 _"Pitch, no…! What have you done to him, why is—"_

 _"Is the poor rabbit the only one with such_ astute _hearing? Such a shame."_

 _"Kozmotis!"_

Her hands bled images.

 _"I'm so not terribly sorry. Sorry."_

 _"Pitch!" North boomed. "What did you do?"_

 _Quiet._

 _"Do you really want to find out?"_

She shook her head in denial.

 _"Pitch, please…."_

 _"You're poison, I guess." An immortal sniffle._

 _"I suppose I'm done here, then. I'll let you clean up."_

 _Tooth paled. "No."_

"Yes," she mumbled. "Why."

 _"Yes, Ms. Fairy."_

 _"Tooth?"_

 _"Pitch!"_

 _"Have fun with the reunion, Guardians. Hate to say I won't be there to witness it."_

"Why," she whispered. "Yes."

 _Aster was crying. Sandy could feel it._

 _He rushed as fast as he could._

 _He flew in agony as he heard his screams._

 _As he heard Jack's cries._

 _As he heard them stop._

The sky was beautiful, atop his cloud.

 _He rushed through the window and witnessed._

 _He saw North cradling Tooth._

 _He saw Bunny crawling and crouching._

 _He saw shattered glass and crimson swords._

 _He saw bloodstained floors._

He could see the stars and planets.

 _Bunny was heaving._

 _"Jack, Jack… Jack… c'mon, mate, wake up… wake up, Jack…."_

 _Bunny shook his body and ignored the way blood no longer flowed._

 _Tooth ignored the way her feet nearly slipped on it._

 _North ignored the way his boots squelched._

He could see milky ways and galaxies.

 _Sandy looked at Jack and saw his long fingers._

 _His pale fingers._

 _His childhood fingers._

 _He saw how they dangled on the ground._

 _How they dripped blood._

Sandy never cries.

 _What kind of man kills a child?_

 _In cold blood?_

 _In warm blood?_

 _What kind of man murders a hero?_

 _In cold blood?_

Sandy can't cry.

 _What kind of man was he, this Pitch?_

 _What kind of man was he to kill?_

 _Did he hold cold blood?  
_

 _Was he a man of his words?_

 _They were friends once._

Sandy can't cry out.

 _The man claimed they were two halves of the same coin._

 _Light._

 _Dark._

 _Night._

 _And Night._

Sandy can't cry for.

 _He said they had to be friends._

 _He said they were so alike they were different._

 _And Sandy believed him._

 _Believed him._

 _Pitch._

Sandy can't cry with.

 _And then._

 _And then._

 _And then._

 _And then and then and then and then—_

 _And then there was static between them._

Sandy refuses to admit to.

 _A war._

 _Over a child._

 _Over many children._

 _And then—_

 _A child won him over._

 _Had won Pitch Black over._

Sandy refuses to admit he was right.

 _Had won pitch black over._

 _White had captured black._

 _White had secured black._

 _White had angered black._

 _White had refused black._

 _Blue has been created by gold._

Sandy refused to admit that he, himself, was correct.

 _Gold murdered Blue._

 _While White was a collapsed chain._

 _And Black was screaming for Gold to stop._

 _And Black was making Grey cry._

 _And Yellow was rushing to._

Jamie would wake up from nightmares of—

 _Snowballs._

 _Snowmen._

 _Snow people._

 _Snow villages._

 _Snow friends._

 _Snow enemies._

 _Snow—Jack Frost._

… of his childhood dying.

 _Blue skies._

 _Blue banners._

 _Blue robes._

 _Blue water._

 _Blue lakes._

 _Blue—Jack Frost._

Jamie heard the most bloodcurdling scream.

 _Irises wider than the sun._

 _Blue._

 _Gold._

 _Against._

 _And for._

 _To._

 _And fro._

Raised from his daughter.

 _Knives._

 _And swords._

 _And blood._

 _And homes._

 _Sticks and stones._

 _Really do break his bones._

Blaire Croft Éclair.

 _He couldn't fly anymore._

 _He couldn't see anymore._

 _He couldn't touch anymore._

 _He couldn't taste anymore—more—_

 _More—more—more—more—more—more—more—more—more—_

 _He could taste blood._

She screamed and pled.

 _The children were haunted._

 _Haunted._

 _Haunted._

 _Scarred._

 _Scared._

 _Blamed._

As their nightmares came true.

 _They were quiet._

 _And fearful._

 _And terrified._

 _Because the snow was red._

 _And the clouds were black._

 _And the wind screamed as her son died—_

And they dared to look outside.

 _Died—_

 _Died—_

 _Died—_

 _Died—_

 _Died—_

 _And Pitch Black._

And the skies were grey and bled snowy tears.

 _And Kozmotis Pitchiner._

And the clouds were black.

 _Raised his hand once more._

And the wind screamed as her son died… and died and died and died and died and—

 _And swallowed his guilt._

And it rained oily tears.

 _.._

 _…_

 _.._

 _…_

 _.._

 _…_

 _His guilt sparkled in his glass._

 _.._

 _…_

 _.._

 _…_

 _.._

 _…_

 _And he spoke_

 _.._

 _..._

 _.._

 _..._

 _.._

 _..._

 _"You were right, Jack. Manny doesn't care for us one bit."_


End file.
